Britain is able to walk away from the European Court providing six months notice is given.

Mr Herbert made the comments as Britain prepares to block a wave of legal action from prisoners if Parliament denies them the right to vote in defiance of European laws.

Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, said MPs will be able to choose whether to keep Britain's ban on prisoner voting, which has been ruled illegal by the European Court of Human Rights. Another option involved letting up to 30,000 prisoners on shorter sentences have the vote.

The Government is braced for a rush of legal action from prisoners demanding millions of pounds in compensation if Parliament decides to defy the Strasbourg court.

But Mr Grayling suggested that Britain could block prisoners getting access to legal aid to help them mount legal challenges against the Government. He said ministers will make an announcement on changing the use of legal aid "before long".

MPs debated the issue for a second time yesterday after voting to keep the ban on a previous occasion. They have now been given the option of defying the European courts, giving the vote to prisoners serving less than six months or giving it to those serving less than four years.

Labour said the most lenient option could give around 30,000 prisoners, including 4,000 burglars, the vote for the first time, even though the Prime Minister has promised that inmates will not take part in elections on his watch.

The Prime Minister has said prisoner voting makes him feel "physically sick" and Mr Grayling has also made clear he opposes lifting the ban.

The Justice Secretary said yesterday Britain will not become a country with an "appalling human rights record" just because prisoners cannot vote.

He said Parliament is "sovereign in this area" and will makes its own decision, but will then have to "confront" the consequences.

It emerged tthat David Cameron will face the "absurd situation" of being unable to support the ban in Parliament, because ministers cannot vote for something that is illegal under European law.

Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights on the Council of Europe, said Britain could not object because sovereignty had been surrendered to the European Court of Human Rights.

"The UK decided to delegate a small part of its sovereignty to the Court of Europe when it joined," he said. "It agreed to abide by the rulings of the court."

He said the Court had ruled against Britain on "very few" occasions but added: "The court has been very clear that this is a breach of the convention that should be remedied.

It is looking like an increasing possibility that the Government will simply refuse to implement Strasbourg's judgment, despite the consequences.

Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, has said Britain "has an obligation to comply" but ultimately "parliamentary sovereignty supersedes those rulings".

Now the options have been presented to Parliament, the draft laws will be sent to a parliamentary committee for scrutiny. MPs will then be asked to vote on the issue again at later date. If they decide to keep the ban, this will give the Government more legitimacy to defy the Strasbourg ruling.